That the CPI hates the big brother attitude of CPM is an open secret. And the former never leaves a stone unturned to prove itself more revolutionary than the CPM. The two are, yet again, on a collision course in Kerala. This time the fight is over the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The tussle started with the Chief Minister Pinaray Vijayan taking a position that all information pertaining to Cabinet decisions cannot be provided under the Act. The government had also made a request in the court that Cabinet decisions should not be brought under the purview of the RTI Act. The CPI, however, came out in open against the CPM with its state Secretary Kanam Rajendran issuing statements saying the LDF had the responsibility to protect the RTI and that any decision taken against the interest of the Act cannot be acceptable.
“It is the responsibility of the government to disclose Cabinet decisions when RTI queries are raised. If a Cabinet decision is not published, it becomes the citizens’ right to know about it. I don’t know why the administrators do not understand this,” Kanam said.
Kanam went to the extent of saying it was surprising that Pinarayi, who has “many advisers”, is not aware of the fact.
His words were, in fact, sharp retaliation to the chief minister who had accused the CPI of its stance on the issue. Pinarayi said the CPI(M)-led LDF government would not dilute the path-breaking act and any propaganda against this was "false" and "unfortunate.” “Kerala is the only state to update post-Cabinet decisions on the website. Still, some people are creating a smokescreen. It’s not clear for whom such an attempt is being made,” he said.
Referring to Kanam without naming him, Pinarayi said, "There is no point in expecting a contradictory stance from an individual who is part of an organisation that fought for the RTI Act for long. There could be people trying to spread misinformation regarding the government's stand on the RTI. But what if those who should ordinarily correct them, too, opt to take a contradictory stance?"
Alleging vested interests were behind those creating controversies, Pinarayi said: “I chose not to retort to avoid unnecessary controversies. It doesn’t imply I have lost the ability to do so. Those who criticise should better realise this.”
Meanwhile, the CPI State Executive has offered full support to party state secretary Kanam Rajendran in the controversy related to the RTI Act.
But the real issue, according to political observers, is not RTI per se, but the growing insecurity of the CPI, the second-biggest party in the LDF. The brutal majority of the CPM in the last Assembly elections have made the CPI almost insignificant.
“The CPI knows that the CPM does not need it. It also realises that the ground is slipping beneath it and uses every opportunity to remain in news,” said a CPM minister.
But CPI leader Pannian Raveendran puts the blame squarely on the “stubbornness” of the chief minister.
“People have a lot of expectations from the LDF as they are the ones who have played a major role in making RTI a reality. When they themselves try to subvert it, people will not forgive. All this misunderstanding between the CPM and the CPI is due to the aggression on the part of the chief minister,” he said.
He said the matter needs to be sorted out between the CPM and the CPI at the earliest.
It is another story that both the parties – CPM and CPI – had been steadfastly demanding that political parties be kept outside the purview of the RTI Act. Their argument being, bringing a political party under the RTI Act will lead to an undemocratic infringement on its confidential discussions.
